Marrone ... Gone...NOT Gone

[OrangeDW]

Lions fans would take 4 playoff appearances in 5 years. Plus Fontes was the HC for the Lions ONLY playoff win in the SB era. 1991 Divisional round win over Dallas. #restoretheroar

Weirdly, growing up in CNY, my best friend was a Lions fan and so was one of the “leader” older kids in the neighborhood who lived a few houses down. So I followed them closely, hating every chance I got.

They had zero history and always seemed to make the playoffs!? Yeah, they didn’t go anywhere but why should they? Dallas and SF were loaded every year and one of them was gonna be the winning it anyway. The Lions should’ve been thrilled to be a perennial playoff team.

 

[kirbivore]

My only question/observation... how many years will have to go by before news about st Doug doesn't result in a huge thread where we rehash every minute of his time here?

I think Marrone is a great football mind but...
- he's extremely arrogant... witness the St. Doug debacle
- he's divisive... I remember numerous alumni complaining that they lost access to the program while he was here and a number of buffalo bills alumni also complained about the same when he was with the bills and with the Jags a number of current players demanded out and it seems like they got a sued by a bunch of players
- he seems to enjoy sucking the joy out of football

about point #2. Not defending Doug as I hate him but weren't some of those alumni he banned b/c they were pitching pyramid schemes?

 

[samspann1]

Lions fans would take 4 playoff appearances in 5 years. Plus Fontes was the HC for the Lions ONLY playoff win in the SB era. 1991 Divisional round win over Dallas. #restoretheroar

It’s all about the narrative, though. Fontes is generally considered a doofus, and Marrone is seen as a miracle worker

 

[GoSU96]

My only question/observation... how many years will have to go by before news about st Doug doesn't result in a huge thread where we rehash every minute of his time here?

I think Marrone is a great football mind but...
- he's extremely arrogant... witness the St. Doug debacle
- he's divisive... I remember numerous alumni complaining that they lost access to the program while he was here and a number of buffalo bills alumni also complained about the same when he was with the bills and with the Jags a number of current players demanded out and it seems like they got a sued by a bunch of players
- he seems to enjoy sucking the joy out of football

1. It was a joke
2. As for alums. My guess he was trying to eliminate distractions for two losing cultures
3. the jags didn’t get sued. The nflpa sent a letter complaining about things that TC was doing in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. a big reason why he is coming back is the locker room is firmly behind him
4. Based on what

 

[Alsacs]

It’s all about the narrative, though. Fontes is generally considered a doofus, and Marrone is seen as a miracle worker

I do think in a league full of dumb coaches Marrone is pretty solid.
I don’t think he is top 5-10 HC but he is good enough with the right talent to win.
If he had his buddy Billy O’Brien’s roster I think he does better.
As I expect Buffalo to beat Houston this weekend.
O’Brien has had a lot of talented teams and always implode in the playoffs.
Marrone has more playoff wins than O’Brien and he has only made the playoffs 1 time compared to O’Brien’s 4 times.

 

[samspann1]

Sure, if you want to compare him to BOB, he looks good in comparison. O’Brien is the modern day Fontes.

 

[OrangeDW]

Doug was a great game planner at SU. Never forget when he absolutely demolished a better Rutgers team in the Dome.

*H0T Takes part just because I like using this term and hopefully slightly ticking hating Bills fans off: Dougie is a jam-up guy and a hell of a football coach.

 

[samspann1]

If he’s a “hell of a coach” (lmao), I guess McDermott is a first ballot HOFer.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

about point #2. Not defending Doug as I hate him but weren't some of those alumni he banned b/c they were pitching pyramid schemes?

Will Allen?

 

[orange79]

Weirdly, growing up in CNY, my best friend was a Lions fan and so was one of the “leader” older kids in the neighborhood who lived a few houses down. So I followed them closely, hating every chance I got.

They had zero history and always seemed to make the playoffs!? Yeah, they didn’t go anywhere but why should they? Dallas and SF were loaded every year and one of them was gonna be the winning it anyway. The Lions should’ve been thrilled to be a perennial playoff team.

I grew up playing with a Greg Landry football. Loved their unis.

 

[OrangePA]

OK. That’s all fine, I don’t disagree with most of it. My point, however, was to address why Marrone still gets hostility for leaving, while Mac never did. And the point was that Mac left the program in tremendous shape, and Marrone left long before the program was on solid ground. Maybe it would have been had Marrone stayed the 11 years that Mac did. But he didn’t.

Mac left when he had a chance to leave.

 

[OrangePA]

Can’t we all just accept Marrone was good coach who wasn’t going to be a great college coach.
He left for an NFL HC job that any coach would leave for.
I blame Gross for what transpired more than Marrone.
Marrone wasn’t a good recruiter that is a fair criticism but was a good game plan coach.

The 2012 season should have been better but it was a good season.

2012 should have been better?

Gosh, it seemed to me that Marrone squeezed out as many wins as that team could get.

Give Marrone the facilities and money that Babers has and he recruits well.

Marrone was a great coach - I wish he had stayed.

 

[OrangePA]

I grew up playing with a Greg Landry football. Loved their unis.

Greg Landry was a terrific NFL QB - could really run the ball.

 

[OrangePA]

based on his relationship with Wildhack and if the investments were being made he probably stays for another couple of years.

I have no doubt he stays.

 

[elimunelson]

I have no doubt he stays.

I think Doug is a good coach but no way he stays. He’s a guy looking for next big thing. It’s in his DNA. Wasn’t gonna stay at Syracuse no matter the investment. He left buffalo when the opportunity presented itself

 

[Alsacs]

2012 should have been better?

Gosh, it seemed to me that Marrone squeezed out as many wins as that team could get.

Give Marrone the facilities and money that Babers has and he recruits well.

Marrone was a great coach - I wish he had stayed.

Northwestern, Minnesota, Cincinnati all games we win with a better disciplined team.
That team left wins on the field:

 

[OrangePA]

Northwestern, Minnesota, Cincinnati all games we win with a better disciplined team.
That team left wins on the field:

We pulled rabbits out our hat against UFS and Mizzou.

We beat Pitt by one point.

Disagree re Cincinnati.

We were not an eleven-win team that year.

Wow.

 

[OrangePA]

I think Doug is a good coach but no way he stays. He’s a guy looking for next big thing. It’s in his DNA. Wasn’t gonna stay at Syracuse no matter the investment. He left buffalo when the opportunity presented itself

I don’t that’s accurate.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Yeah people always want to talk about the close losses being wins but forget the other side of the coin (close wins vs Mizz Pitt and USF)

 

[CousCuse]

The Northwestern QB was not out of bounds. Another call from B1G refs that cost Syracuse.

 

[Alsacs]

We pulled rabbits out our hat against UFS and Mizzou.

We beat Pitt by one point.

Disagree re Cincinnati.

We were not an eleven-win team that year.

Wow.

We were a Better team thsn USF. That team went 3-9. We shouldn’t have fallen behind by as much as we did.
We won the game but let’s not Make that comeback anything special:

Missouri was a game people can say we stole but again by that time our offense was on a roll and we were the better team.

The Cincinnati game we were in control and stupid penalties along with dumb decisions to go for FGs in the game when they were out of our kickers range cost us that game. We fumbled the opening kickoff and had another fumble deep in our territory that gave Cincinnati 14 points, we had a FG blocked and attempted another one that we should have gone for it on 4th down.

We had 15 penalities in that game.
Cmon we beat ourselves against Cincinnati.

The Northwestern game we should have had wrapped up before that hit penalty.

We were a 9-3 team that year that went 8-5 after the bowl win.
We left multiple wins on the field that year and that is a fact. That team should have been ranked if they didn’t give away games.
Plus the stupidity and fumbles at Minnesota gave that game away. We were the better team and killed ourselves.

 

[CousCuse]

We were a Better team thsn USF. That team went 3-9. We shouldn’t have fallen behind by as much as we did.
We won the game but let’s not Make that comeback anything special:

Missouri was a game people can say we stole but again by that time our offense was on a roll and we were the better team.

The Cincinnati game we were in control and stupid penalties along with dumb decisions to go for FGs in the game when they were out of our kickers range cost us that game. We fumbled the opening kickoff and had another fumble deep in our territory that gave Cincinnati 14 points, we had a FG blocked and attempted another one that we should have gone for it on 4th down.

We had 15 penalities in that game.
Cmon we beat ourselves against Cincinnati.

The Northwestern game we should have had wrapped up before that hit penalty.

We were a 9-3 team that year that went 8-5 after the bowl win.
We left multiple wins on the field that year and that is a fact. That team should have been ranked if they didn’t give away games.
Plus the stupidity and fumbles at Minnesota gave that game away. We were the better team and killed ourselves.

The Big East refs weren't doing Syracuse any favors that year after they announced the jump to the ACC. There was a fumbled ball in the Rutgers game on a punt just when SU was taking control and it looked like the returner was down. There was no replay.

 

[OrangePA]

We were a Better team thsn USF. That team went 3-9. We shouldn’t have fallen behind by as much as we did.
We won the game but let’s not Make that comeback anything special:

Missouri was a game people can say we stole but again by that time our offense was on a roll and we were the better team.

The Cincinnati game we were in control and stupid penalties along with dumb decisions to go for FGs in the game when they were out of our kickers range cost us that game. We fumbled the opening kickoff and had another fumble deep in our territory that gave Cincinnati 14 points, we had a FG blocked and attempted another one that we should have gone for it on 4th down.

We had 15 penalities in that game.
Cmon we beat ourselves against Cincinnati.

The Northwestern game we should have had wrapped up before that hit penalty.

We were a 9-3 team that year that went 8-5 after the bowl win.
We left multiple wins on the field that year and that is a fact. That team should have been ranked if they didn’t give away games.
Plus the stupidity and fumbles at Minnesota gave that game away. We were the better team and killed ourselves.

I was at the USF game.

We were getting whipped soundly.

We were lucky to win.

Cincinnati beat us - they had the ball for 43 minutes. They finished 10-3 that year. They were better than we were.

We were not an eleven-win team.

Marrone did a great job that year - he got as much out of that team as could be gotten.

 

[GoSU96]

I was at the USF game.

We were getting whipped soundly.

We were lucky to win.

Cincinnati beat us - they had the ball for 43 minutes. They finished 10-3 that year. They were better than we were.

We were not an eleven-win team.

Marrone did a great job that year - he got as much out of that team as could be gotten.

I have to disagree to an extent. I think bad breaks and mistakes led to that team under performing its record by a couple of games. They should have beaten north western. Rutgers was lost on a blocked fg return and three ints, they dominated statistical, Once they got the balance figured out on offense they were one of the best teams that year. Considering where they started from it was remarkable

 

[djorange1989]

I have to disagree to an extent. I think bad breaks and mistakes led to that team under performing its record by a couple of games. They should have beaten north western. Rutgers was lost on a blocked fg return and three ints, they dominated statistical, Once they got the balance figured out on offense they were one of the best teams that year. Considering where they started from it was remarkable

8-5 was a good record based on where they started as you said. Also, playing 4 Power 5 teams in the OOC, three of those early in the season when we were still working out the kinks after installing a brand new offense in summer camp, was going to lead to issues early on. Saying we were an 11 win team is revisionist garbage IMO